Phone Booth

The unnerving concept behind this semi-riveting real-time urban thriller is both chilling and inspired in its simplicity: an unseen sniper calls a pay phone and threatens to kill the man who answers if he hangs up. It's the kind of idea Alfred Hitchcock could have spun into cinematic gold, but in the hands of high-gloss director Joel Schumacher (Bad Company, Batman & Robin), intelligence and creativity have to fight for screen time with invasive popcorn movie superficiality (like barely relevant satellite-in-space sequences). Colin Farrell (The Recruit) plays a cocky snake of a hot young publicist targeted by the psychotic caller--a sharp-shooting social vigilante with the calm, ominous voice of Kiefer Sutherland. Soon a bystander is shot, Farrell is framed for it (with a gun planted in the booth), and dozens of cops and TV crews arrive, followed by Farrell's wife (Radha Mitchell) and could-be mistress (Katie Holmes). If only Schumacher had resisted a barrage of script-doctored Hollywood hokum, Phone Booth could have been unforgettably gripping instead of just flashy and intermittently entertaining. Optional. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by director Joel Schumacher, and trailers. Bottom line: a skimpy extras package for a so-so thriller.] (R. Blackwelder)